Characterised by the company as “a key growth initiative”, the $800m new theme park, Genting SkyWorlds, is set to open at Resorts World Genting in Q2.
After riding out a difficult 2020, Genting Malaysia is planning to open its $800m new theme park in Q2 this year. The company said it is in the process of “putting the finishing touches” to the outdoor theme park, Genting SkyWorlds, located at its flagship property Resorts World Genting.
The firm has characterised the new theme part as “a key growth initiative” and Lee Thiam Kit, Genting Malaysia’s head of business operations and strategies, said the group was committed to launching the park despite the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. “We are going to see that it opens,” he stated, speaking to the local media.
The theme park spans 26 acres (10.52 hectares) and is said to be able to accommodate up to 20,000 tourists during normal trading conditions.
For Q4 2020, Genting Malaysia reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of MYR170.4m ($42.2m). Revenue for the three months to 31 December 2020 fell 26.5 percent sequentially, to MYR1.04bn ($252.6m), while the company posted a net loss of MYR258.2m ($62.7m).
With EBITDA down 45.2 percent on the previous quarter, Nomura said the fall was “mainly due to decline in EBITDA from Malaysia” given ongoing restrictions to contain the coronavirus pandemic, “which was partially offset by higher EBITDA from the US operations”.
“Overall, movement curbs in Malaysia… along with closures in overseas markets will weigh on [Genting Malaysia’s] performance till first-half 2021 at least,” the brokerage said.
For full-year 2020, Genting Malaysia reported a net loss of just above MYR2.26bn on revenue of MYR4.53bn. Nevertheless, the firm was still able to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA of MYR350.3m in the 12 months of 2020, “anchored by” its Malaysian operations.
Nomura’s Tushar Mohata and Alpa Aggarwai remained upbeat on the firm’s prospects going forward and suggested investors “consider these quarters largely irrelevant and are looking through to FY22 prospects”.
“We tend to agree with this assessment, as FY22 outlook looks promising for Malaysia with the Skyworlds theme park scheduled to open (mid-2021), vaccines expected to be widely available by end- 2021 in Malaysia, UK and USA (key markets), and some inbound tourism expected to begin,” the analysts stated.
